ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Junior Cherise Beynon of The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team (15-11, 10-5 MW) collected her second triple-double of the season on Saturday afternoon in the Lobos Love Pink game to help lead UNM to a 66-57 victory over visiting Fresno State (14-12, 7-8 MW). During the game, the Lobos and Lobo fans raised over $2,700 for the UNM Cancer Center with the game jersey auction. Beynon finished with 15 points, 10 assists and a career-high 15 rebounds.
Beynon’s 10 assists also moves her into third all-time in Lobo single-season history with 174 and eighth in career assists with 348.
The junior led three Lobos scoring in double digits including senior Richelle van der Keijl (15) and junior Alex Lapeyrolerie (15). Junior Laneah Bryan added nine points while senior Kianna Keller tallied a new season-best nine points and finished just one point away from her second career double-double with 11 rebounds.
“I think our kids really showed some results and some guts today,” head coach Mike Bradbury said. “(Fresno State) came back and got ahead of us and that is something we have not handled very well – today we did. We got a big basket out of Cherise and a huge basket out of Alex. Richelle was really good and we made just enough free throws down the stretch to hold them off.”
The Lobos got started with an 8-0 run to kick off the game including a 3-pointer by Bryan to force an early Fresno State timeout with just 6:50 on the clock. The Bulldogs responded with a three out of the timeout and another one two minutes later before Lapeyrolerie hit two straight 3-pointers to put the Lobos back up by nine, 20-11. A layup by Fresno State’s leading scorer Bego Faz Davalos made it a seven-point game, 20-13 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter started slow with the Bulldogs scoring four points in the first two minutes before UNM hit its first shot at the 7:16 mark when van der Keijl scored under the basket.
The first half saw the Lobos heading into the locker room up by 13, 35-22 with Keller knocking on the door of her career-high 10 points. She registered nine in just the first half but reverted back to her defensive prowess in the second half.
“Kianna was great,” Bradbury said. “The points she got early really separated us in the first half and really gave us that lead. That was outstanding.”
After limiting Fresno State to just nine points in the second quarter, it was the Lobos that struggled offensively in the third, scoring just eight points in the frame to 20 for the Bulldogs. The 13-point Lobo lead was whittled down to three points as Fresno State opened the second half with a 10-0 run, 35-32 by the 4:11 mark.
The first Lobo basket of the quarter came on a Beynon free throw with 3:20 left on the clock to spark a UNM comeback. The Bulldogs answered with a free throw before Beynon laid one in and Bryan followed 24 seconds later with another 3-pointer to take the Lobo lead back to eight, 41-33. Bryan went 3-of-6 from downtown on the day.
In the final 1:47 of the third quarter, however, the Bulldogs went on a 9-2 run that included three baskets from behind the arc to make it a one-point game, 43-42 heading into the final 10-minute stretch.
Faz Davalos gave the Bulldogs the lead with an opening layup just 14 seconds into the fourth quarter, 44-43, and extended it to three with jumper less than a minute later, 46-43, before the Lobos rattled off a 7-0 run that ended with a 3-pointer from junior Jayda Bovero to get the Lobos back out to a four-point lead, 50-46.
The Lobo lead was cut as close as two with 6:43 left in the game but did not go below six in the final 4:39. With the Lobos up by six and a little over three and a half minutes left, Bryan hit another clutch three to take the Lobos up by a more comfortable nine points, 59-50 and UNM continued to close out the game from there on six points from Beynon (four free throws) and a van der Keijl bucket from the stripe.
Overall, the Lobos outshot the Bulldogs 38.1 percent to 32.9 percent while outrebounding 54-34. UNM is now 13-2 when outrebounding its opponent.
Fresno State was led by sophomore Candice White who scored 20 points while posting seven rebounds. She was followed by Faz Davalos who scored nine points and collected nine boards as well as freshman Katelin Noyer who also scored nine points. Both Faz Davalos and White entered the game averaging 14.8 points on the season.
The Lobos return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 22 when they travel to first-place Colorado State for a 7 p.m. matchup. UNM will host its final regular-season game on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 1 p.m. against Wyoming in the Lobos’ much-anticipated senior day.